So, I've had a few stories posted on Kindle for purchase for over two years. In that time, I hadn't sold much, and I was wondering if there were a way to offer my stories for free or have a sale or something to boost sales and exposure. Then, a new program came along called Kindle Direct Publishing Select. With this program, stories or novels can offered free of charge for five days every 90 day period. Likewise, if someone borrows your story, you can get a piece of the pot they offer monthly. Since I was struggling with sales, I decided that this would be a great idea, so I moved them into the program. The only issue was that I had to not offer them anywhere else for sale or reading which wasn't really an issue. Then, this last weekend, I had my first free promotion which went pretty well.
I had a lot of downloads of my stories which was a pleasant surprise. It also appears that I had some sales from the experience. It's early, so it's difficult to tell if this will result in sustained sales. Personally, I doubt it, but, honestly, my stories are short, need more editing, and look kind of crappy (coverwise). Still, I'm definitely satisfied with the program.
While my experience is probably not common, I would advise a thing or two. First, my downloads dropped off significantly on the second day of my promotion, so, if I do this again, I won't offer my stories for free two days in a row. Secondly, from what I've seen, sales improve after offering stories for free. If your sales are struggling, try putting that story into KDP Select and see how it goes. At this point, people aren't really reporting a downside. If your work is selling well, I've seen others who aren't using this program, and I can't blame them. Why jeopardize that? I can't think of a good reason. Good luck to any authors out there and think about this option if you want exposure.
